Ahead of Tamil Nadu Premier League auction, another BCCI missive

Ahead of the TNPL player draft, the BCCI has sent a letter to TNCA, reiterating its stand that the local T20 tournament can’t have outstation players on board even if they are registered to play the Tamil Nadu cricket league.

Ahead of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) player draft, scheduled on Friday, the BCCI has sent a letter to the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), reiterating its stand that the local T20 tournament can’t have outstation players on board even if they are registered to play the Tamil Nadu cricket league. The cricket board cites a clause set by its working committee in 2009, when N Srinivasan was the BCCI secretary, to deny permission to the TNCA. It is learnt that the BCCI also consulted with Justice (Retd.) BN Srikrishna on the matter.

“The Working Committee has exercised its power under Rule 28 b) of the BCCI Constitution by inter alia granting permission to the concerned members in respect of various tournaments (like the KSCA’s Golden Jubilee Tournament, TNCA’s Buchi Babu Tournament, Hyderabad Cricket Association’s Moinudowlah Tournament, PCA’s Dhruv Pandove Tournament) in which the players from regions outside the jurisdiction of the respective host member have been permitted to play on the terms and conditions specified by the BCCI.

However, as a matter of consistent policy, no such permission has been granted by BCCI to any member in respect of T20 tournaments as decided by the Working Committee at its meeting held on 13th August 2009,” the cricket board letter to TNCA mentioned. As reported by this paper, TNCA secretary Palani had acknowledged in its letter to the BCCI that the Karnataka State Cricket Association and the Goa Cricket Association were not allowed to field outstation players in their respective T20 leagues. Palani, however, added that the BCCI communications to the KSCA and the GCA “may not be in consonance with the rules of the BCCI and therefore not binding”…

On Thursday, the BCCI responded with: “The communication to the KSCA was signed by Mr. N. Srinivasan, the then Hon. Secretary of the BCCI, who is also a former President of the TNCA and continues to represent the TNCA as recently as during the Special General Meeting of the BCCI held on 26th June 2017.” The TNCA, however, has shot back, terming the BCCI logic “completely flawed”. “We are extremely disappointed with the content of the (BCCI) letter. The BCCI is vastly exceeding their authority.

They cannot quote any precedent for something like this, because they have got to show a rule or a regulation that prohibits the (outstation) players from playing. “Piyush Chawla could go and play in the TNCA first division league, why can’t he play in the TNPL? So we feel it’s a completely flawed logic of the BCCI and we will take a call on how we want to take it forward,” TNPL chairman PS Raman told The Indian Express. The TNCA is going to take a decision on the player draft as well, although it is scheduled tomorrow. The BCCI letter stated that “since there is neither any statutory provision nor any rule in the BCCI Constitution, which expressly directs or requires such rules to be framed by the General Body, the Working Committee is empowered to frame such rules”.

‘Guest players’, however, can turn up for local T20 leagues, because they are different from ‘outstation players’. Those who take inter-state transfers before the start of the season are ‘guest players’. The BCCI tournament rules allow up to three ‘guest players’ in the squad. A total of 88 outstation players, including big names like Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan and Chawla had registered themselves with the TNCA.